This section covers the running of Stages Rallies by ALMC, in particular since 2007, and our events with the CityNorth as HQ, and stages running in Louth and Meath areas.

Please choose one of the sub menu items to see images and video of our events from 2007 to 2010, as well as a history of the Motor Club itself, taken from the booklet written to mark the 40th anniversary of the Motor Club.

Information on one of the earliest runnings of the Stages Rally!!- Click on the image to open a pdf version of the article.

With thanks to the authors of, and contributors to-  " ALMC - 40 Years in Irish Motorsport"!

• Chris McNally
• Michael O'Callaghan
• Barry Crowley
• Ted Gaffney
• Peter Murphy
• Dave Popham

ALMC Motorclub, or as it was known originally, Aer Lingus Motor Club, was founded in 1963 by a group of motorsport enthusiasts working in Dublin Airport. The club ran Autocrosses and Navigation Trials in the early years, mostly in the Dublin, Meath and Louth areas. Most of the club membership was based in these areas also.

Through the Sixties and Seventies, rallies were a mixture of navigation and loose surface sections. ALMC ran many events, some of which were rounds of the Irish Championship.

1974 brought the Bellurgan Mountaincross, on the Cooley Peninsula, with club member John Coyne as COC. This evolved into a tarmac surface event, and subsequently became the the first Multi Stage event in 1984, with John Carroll as COC, John remaining as COC for ten consecutive years.

In 1988, the event was run in November through the Classic Circuit of Ireland stages of Sally Gap and Sorrell Hill. In 1994, a new COC took over, Ian O'Flynn (RIP), running the Drogheda 800 Stages event.

The ALMC Stages Rally was a round of the National Championship most of the years between 1987 to 1999, as well as being a round of the Border Championship from 1991 to 1997.

This years COC, Noel Devlin, took over the running of the event in 1995 from the Montague Hotel in Co. Laois, and continued on until 1997. 1998 saw the event in the stewardship of Pat O'Connor, and in 1999, Ian again took on the running of the rally.

In Millenium year, Noel returned as COC, running the Clubs most ambitious rally to date, the "Dunlop Rally of Ireland", headquartered in Tallaght, Co Dublin, with the two day event running stages in Dublin, Laois and Wicklow.

In 2003, Ian O'Flynn (RIP) again ran the event, this time from the Oasis Hotel in Carrickmacross, running a very successful event from this venue. The rally moved to a new home in 2004 in Virginia, Co Cavan, another successful event, won by Club member Tim NcNulty.

The Rally remained at this HQ in 2005 and 2006, before moving to its current base in the CityNorth Hotel in Gormanston, from where the club has run five events to date, the January 2007 Mini Stages Rally, and the 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 Multi Stages Rally. John Carroll has acted as COC for the first three events, and for 2009 and 2010, the Rally saw Noel Devlin once again take over the running of the event.

2007 was a sad year for the club, with the untimely passing of Ian O'Flynn, after a prolonged illness, his efforts in the running of the ALMC Rally, as well as many others, will never be forgotten.

The profile of the 2010 event increased even further, with the welcome addition of competing crews from the UK, as the Rally ran as the only overseas round of the UK MSA Asphalt Championship. 

ALMC have monthly meetings in the CityNorth, and club members travel far and wide during the season to assist other clubs in the running of their events. This year, club member Dave Popham was appointed Rally Secretary for Rally Ireland 2009, the first round of the 2009 World Rally Championship, a fitting appointment for a loyal club member, and an acknowledgement of Dave's organisational ability through the years for Rallying in Ireland.